#Burkiniban – the problem is veiled ideology

The birkini is the clothing equivalent of a Red Cross parcel in a concentration camp. It may allow the moments of joy its founder intended, but it exists because women are not free to dress as they wish within the context of Islam.

Burkini inventor Aheda Zanetti has claimed that: “Burkini is just a word that describes a full cover swimsuit and it doesn’t symbolise anything to do with Muslims”.

This is disingenuous. No other religion requires a woman to cover herself from head to toe; no other religion implies that the public display of a woman’s body is an affront to God. If it were just about covering love handles and lumpy bits, it wouldn’t have a hood, and the ‘bur’ bit of the word wouldn’t exist. Perhaps it would be a ‘fullkini’ or a ‘kinisuit’.

So, let’s be honest when we debate such matters; say what we mean and mean what we say, please.

And that goes for both ‘sides’. Thus:

The woman ordered to take off her burkini on Nice’s beach had written on her ticket that her clothing didn’t conform to ‘good manners or French secularism’.

Messrs French Policemen, the two aren’t synonymous; French secularism was responsible for beheading a monarchy and the subsequent Terror, in which tens of thousands were killed. So sorry, much as I love seeing you strut around all uniformed and handsome, you can’t conceptually equate good manners with French secularism. Not with an education, anyway. You can certainly argue secularism is a sensible approach to governance; but this is a standalone concept. Manners don’t come into it.

I think what you meant to write was:

‘After the Nice terrorist attack, there is no way in shit that you’re going to wear that garb on this beach, love. Either take it off, or piss off back home.’

Am I right, though? I feel for the woman; she was just trying to catch some rays. Albeit fewer than she would have got in a traditional bikini. But hey-ho; we always knew sunbathing was dangerous.

And then, using what is an escalating state of tension between the principles of a secular state and Islam, comes The Career Politician, keen to slap his dick on the table.

Former French President, Nicholas Sarkozy has waded in, branding the burkini a ‘provocation’ that supports radicalised Islam. He’s running for President next year and will have stiff opposition from France’s far right parties, which have put the focus on immigration and security. So his message isn’t really about guiding France to a safer, happier place; it’s about him, winning power in the next election. And I see it as a cynical attempt to play on a nation’s grief to leverage himself into a nice job.

But the worst is still to come. This, quoted from The Guardian:

‘The burkini bans have prompted a row over the French principle of laïcité (secularism), amid accusations that politicians are twisting and distorting this principle for political gain, and to target Muslims.’

The terrorist attacks have changed French national feeling – understandably so. Before these awful things happened, France was just France – that beautiful country that gave us Chanel and Chateauneuf and Thierry Henry. Oh, and also told George Bush that his foreign policy vis-a-vis Iraq was ‘simplistic.’ Like I said, I beautiful country.

Now, France is walking down a dangerous path; setting itself against portions of its population.

This is exactly what those radicalised Islamist bastards want. They want a nation divided, and opposing camps ‘defined’. To go to war one must first create sides. Terrorist attacks polarise people, it is true. But it is also true that it is the reactions to such events that draw the battle lines.

There is far more at stake here than one woman’s right to wear what she wants sunbathing, Sarkozy’s future job or even France’s grief.